Okay, One More Time...

     Senator Inhofe brought a snowball from outside of the Capitol today and tossed it on the Senate floor. He offer it up as proof that Climate Change and global warming are a hoax. (Sigh.)

     Okay, let's go through this again. Real quick. Weather is what happens everyday. Climate is what weather does over a looooonnnnnnggggggg period of time. Longterm weather patterns emerge when you look at the climate. No one said climate change meant winter suddenly ended (it's winter in DC, just for the record).

       This is the leader of the Senate committee on the environment.

More Snow?! What About Global Warming?

   

     I'm surprised I haven't heard more people dismiss global warming lately, what with all the snow being heeped upon New England this Winter. Maybe the tide is turning. Regardless...check out these pics from Massachusetts! Holy cow! That's a lot of snow. What about global warming? Does more snow mean global warming is not happening? Not so fast, there trigger. Global warming is happening; it seems to be causing some weirds things to start happening to the Earth's atmosphere. That's why people are concerned and want to address climate issues.

     You've heard it all before: Humans burn fossil fuels and release carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide absorbs heat radiating away from the Earth, eventually warming up the planet's atmosphere:Global Warming. Global Warming leads to more water evaporating into the skies, forming clouds, which carry rain. A warmer atmosphere has more energy, due to the higher temperatures. More energy and more water vapor lead to...? Anyone? Buehler? Buehler? That's right! Bigger and bigger storms! Weather changes everyday, but the climate usually doesn't change so fast, according to research into the planet's climate history.

     It doesn't matter if its snow or rain or sand or wind; bigger storms can really screw up your day and, more often lately, your week. With what happened in Buffalo earlier this past November and the continued onslaught of snow storms in the Northeast, these more frequent events are most likely a result of a changing climate. To hear someone talk about it or to read about it makes it easy to dismiss. To see it first hand, up close and personal, I think it makes people more aware. Slowly people are beginning to notice.  Five feet of snow will do that to you

     So, think about what we discussed here today in the summertime, when the weather is nicer, and those more powerful thunderstorms start rolling through. Louder, with more downpours, and more often. Climate Change its all year round.  Summers are getting warmer every year, following the pattern of higher extremes. Like the snow in the pic above from this winter. Imagine years with even more snow! People will be hurting their backs shoveling snow.

Take a look at the picture above: can anyone find Uncle Bob?

(Photos courtesy of Ana Nardini and Valerie Hoesch. Thanks to both of you in New England for sharing these photos!) 

Groundhog Day

January Stats and Snow

     Thanks to everyone who visited the site last month. It was record breaking! Climate Guy '73 had 4275 page views, beating the old record from last October by over 269 views! (And I did not do any site maintenance in January, so those page views are legit.) Excited to see my audience expanding.

     Sorry if last week was a little light, but I was sorta busy.

     Nothing like coming back from a three day trip only to have to shovel out of 20 inches of snow. The worst part was I piled up a huge amount in front of the second garage door and then my landlord told me that a new tenant would be moving in next week. So I had to move it. And then it snowed again.

     This photo was taken from almost from the same. Another 10 inches after I had it all done. And its snowing again. Right now.

     I am running out of places to put all this stuff! The new house will have a cistern for a lot of this melting snow. And it will have a much smaller driveway. My back will be thankful. Besides, this is all saving me money on a gym membership. My beer belly is almost gone!